Tag:barrier=stile
 barrier = stile
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| Description |
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A structure which provides people a passage through or over a boundary via steps, ladders or narrow gaps. 
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| Rendering in OSM Carto |
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| Group: Barriers |
| Used on these elements |
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Status: approved
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| Tools for this tag |
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| Wikidata |
| Q166557 |
A 
stile is a structure which provides people a passage through or over a boundary via steps, ladders or narrow gaps. Identifying stiles is helpful as their presence restricts access. Stone stiles are of particular interest as they form part of the historic landscape. Identifying them helps with preservation work.
How to map
Simply add the tag barrier=stile to the node where the stile is located.
Where there is a stile where a footpath and a road join, do not place a stile at the junction, but at a node on the footpath:
Possible rendering
suggested by User:Chrisana13.
Stile details
Stile type
The tag stile=* can be used to provide details of the type of stile. The following have been used:
stile=stepover
Stiles where people have to step over the barrier
stile=squeezer
Stiles where people have to pass through a narrow gap in the barrier
stile=ladder
Stiles where there is a ladder either side of the barrier
If known, the material should also be tagged. For example, stone stiles form part of the historic landscape character of the UK, and identifying their location is useful in preservation work. Where possible, the stile should be tagged with material=* with values stone, wood, or metal.
Tagging stile type is useful for evaluating how easy a stile is to use for people with restricted mobility, for example older people who want to hike but would have problem with ladders.
Step-over and ladder stiles can have the number of steps added using step_count=*, also useful to judge how demanding it will be to pass for people with limited mobility. step_count=* should be set to the number of steps on one side. If step count is different on each side, the larger one should be used.
Dog gate
Some stiles have small "dog gates" attached to them. There is a small hole at ground-level closed off by a plank of wood that can be pulled up from the top of the wall/barrier to open up the gate and allow a dog to pass through. The term is used in British Standard BS5709:2018. Tag these with dog_gate=yes.
Examples
| Image | Notes | Tags |
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.jpg)
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Stone stepover stile | barrier=stile stile=stepover material=stone |
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Difficulties in identifying the stile may occur where there is also a gate. Here there is a stone squeezer type stile. The landowner has more recently added a wooden gate. This is generally done because the barrier needs to retain smaller animals. |
barrier=stile stile=squeezer material=stone |
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The above should not be confused with the following example: The above is a small gate, and should be tagged barrier=gate. The metal gate is not a recent addition and is part of the original barrier. The material for the posts is also concrete rather than stone. |
barrier=gate And additional tags as per that page. |
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The primary historic interest will be the stone squeezer | Ideally the preferred tagging should be barrier=stile stile=squeezer material=stone in this example. |
See also
Other names
Norwegian: Gjerdeklyver, trapp
Common/possible tagging mistakes
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!